From initial implementation and throughout your TMC partnership your account manager should act as your single point of contact and be accountable for the overall success and direction of your travel programme.

Their expertise in travel programme management and the corporate travel industry should enable them to create strategies to meet your specific corporate needs.

The account manager role is pivotal in the success of the relationship between TMC and corporate. They need to understand the culture and drivers of their customers, as well as identify and deliver process improvements and cost savings initiatives.

They are also key in communicating corporate requirements to their senior management and the agents processing the bookings.

They need to be more than sales people and presenters of standard slide decks in order to deliver real value for money.

So what should you expect from your account manager? The number one priority should be to demonstrate value through maximising ROI.

Account managers should also assist with policy development, ongoing recommendations, regular reviews of your programme, help with supplier negotiations and RFPs, recommend and set up appropriate online tools, provide comprehensive reporting and benchmarking, create travel programme seminars and training and resolve client service and reservation issues.

TMCs provide standard key deliverables for the function of account management, but these key deliverables are mostly neither specific nor measurable.

If TMCs want to take advantage of opportunities to diversify they need to have an account management team that clearly demonstrates real value to its customers.